Just another WordPress.com site

This page has been created for posters to add their own ideas about how we can make Middlesbrough a better place to live. Again, BetterMiddlesbrough isn’t all about me, it’s about the whole town. So, if you have an idea or opinion, whether it’s about how to make a small change in a relatively small part of town, or your idea is more about causing the fundamental changes that the town needs in order to achieve long-term prosperity, this is the place to air your thoughts.

Oh yeah, and if you already have a community project or activity in the pipeline, you can give it some exposure here too.

Share this:

Like this:

6 Responses

To start the ball rolling, I want to express my own concerns and ask if anyone else has noticed this ‘phenomenon’ in their part of town, or if it is isolated to certain parts.

Anyone remember the time when the Rag n Bone man would drive past their house once a fortnight? At present, Linthorpe is plagued with ‘scrap collectors’ driving around the area seven days a week. They have a number of methods of operation from the traditional calling of ‘Rag n Bone’ from their vehicle, to gaining unauthorised access to alleygated areas and climbing up on peoples’ rear yard walls to see if there’s anything worth taking, to just driving around areas in an unmarked van and ‘scoping out’ the fronts of properties as they drive by.

I’m not saying that all of these people are dishonest or ‘on the rob’ but the huge increase in volume (sometimes in excess of five times a day) of these vehicles passing through the area may also be masking the presence of a more dishonest element.

Does anyone know if these collectors need to be licensed, certified and authorised by the local council? Personally, I would have thought that, as anyone moving waste now has to have a waste removal license, this would be the case. However, I think that the council, possibly in association with the police, need to act to stop and search these vehicles and ensure that the only ones that are circling our communities like perpetual sharks are the honest, licensed operators and not the more unsavoury elements.

It is the sign of the times and more to come as Mallons cuts bite deeper.
There are worse times to come. Not for M’Bro Councillors, they have taken no cuts, one a further £11k a year on the police authority, he joins the ranks of the champagne socialists, Retired Councillor Carr £12.3k+£6.150k+£9k+£5k and anything else he can get in his bag.Cllr Brady £6.150k+£15k+£4k.Cllr Dave Budd £6.150k+£18.450, Cllr Nicky Walker is now on the Erimus Board £4k+£12.3k. They do not intend to have their standard of living spoilt.
I would have thought some of these councillors are extremely wealthy people.

Sorry basic error, Nicky Walker an extra £.150k. I have also noticed a lot of councillors on taking high office? seem to immediately put on a lot of body weight, must be the good grub in the town hall.

I see Cllr Rooney make an utter fool of himself of Radio5 Live last night, claiming the average age of homes in this country is 750 years. When called on this claim by an incredulous presenter, he claimed the figure was correct and he had been given it by an MBC researcher. Also in calling the Gresham and Middlehaven demolitions a blight, Rooney tried to claim the BBC was being biased. And denying that Mallon has stated his plan build a temporary car park to rasie some revenue after borrowing 14.8 million to demolish 4 streets, followed by flogging off green spaces to demolish a few more, instead the plan is….. to grass over the area according to Rooney, again an incredulous presenter questioned him on the right of demolishing sound homes to make a grassy area for a developer to make a profit off….great Comedy for a Sunday night. Pity about the underlying seriousness of Mallon and MBC’s position in destroying the centre of Middlesbrough

I found this very interesting. It has potential for the good of our town if, to use a footballing analogy “you play the ball and not the man”. Keep the site free of personal slanging matches. I will not be writing often but I want to make a couple of points here. First, some of the Labour councillors help Ray Mallon to defeat the Labour Party candidate in election for Mayor. The Labour Party rule book: rule 2A4(b) says: A member of the party who joins and/or supports a political organisation other than an official Labour group or other unit of the party, shall automatically be ineligible to be or remain a party member”. These concillors are clearly in breach of the rule yet remain in the party.My second point. In your column on Councillor McTigue you write: “We can all look at the meeting minutes and decide for ourselves”. Normally this would be true. The mintues of a meeting are supposed to be a true record of what happened at that meeting. This is not the case in Middlesbroug council. The minutes of a meeting are what the Labour councillors say what happened at that meeting so they are not a reliable account of what happened. If you want evidence I will give you it. Bert Ward